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The Alabama Department of Corrections executed death row inmate Derrick Dearman on Thursday night by lethal injection, following his conviction of 10 counts of capital murder for the 2016 slayings of five people and one unborn child using an axe and two guns.
Dearman, who was 36 at the time of death, had waived his appeals earlier this year and volunteered for his execution to be scheduled.
He was put to death at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, making him the fifth inmate executed in Alabama in 2024. Last month, the state executed Alan Miller by method of nitrogen gas.
Governor Kay Ivey confirmed she would not exercise clemency in Dearman’s case and instructed the ADOC to proceed. Dearman chose the lethal injection method over nitrogen gas for his execution.
Governor Ivey released a letter after his execution, stating, “Six lives, including an unborn baby, were gruesomely taken by Mr. Dearman… He clearly made the decision to kill… The state has obliged, and justice has been served.”
In a statement released by his spiritual advisor, Reverend Dr. Jeff Hood, on his behalf earlier this week, Dearman expressed remorse, saying, “I am willingly giving all that I can possibly give to try and repay a small portion of my debt to society for the terrible things that I have done. From this point forward, I hope that the focus will not be on me, but rather on the healing of all the people that I have hurt.”
On the day of the murders, it was reported that Dearman had been using methamphetamine and had not slept in six days which had led to delusions. His records displayed previous drug usage as a form of self-medication and the Equal Justice Initiative, his representation at the time, expressed concern about the implications of executing someone with “serious mental illness who had experienced suicidal ideation his whole life.”
In April, Dearman dismissed his attorneys from the EJI and decided to stop seeking his appeals. He acknowledged that others tried to dissuade him but felt it was the right choice, something Hood described as “terminal remorse.”
After firing his lawyers, Dearman pleaded guilty to multiple counts of capital murder without an agreement with the state that they would not seek the death penalty. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals then denied relief, and the Alabama Supreme Court refused to review the case.
Mr. Dearman sent a handwritten note to state officials asking them to set his execution date while his postconviction petition was pending. His postconviction petition was dismissed and his death sentence was upheld.
“Derrick Dearman stopped his appeals only after a lifetime of severe mental illness and suicidal behavior that Alabama courts have repeatedly ignored. The State of Alabama has now executed him despite serious questions about the constitutionality of his conviction and death sentence,” the EJI wrote on their website.
Leading up to Dearman’s execution, the Alabama Supreme Court set dates for and performed several executions. Jamie Ray Mills and Keith Edmund Gavin were executed by lethal injection. Miller and Kenneth Eugene Smith were put to death by nitrogen gas.
Dearman’s execution makes him the first inmate executed in Alabama since 2013, after spending less than a decade on death row, following Andrew Lackey, who had also requested his execution.
Alabama is now tied with Texas for most executions conducted this year. Alabama is set to execute Carey Dale Grayson by nitrogen gas in November, and if the state proceeds as planned, 2024 will match 2011 for the highest number of executions in a single year.
